Keeping on the Straight and Narrow...

sashybo

Hi Dancing, nice to hear from you and glad you’ve had a relaxing Christmas.

Your plans for next year sound good. 👍🏻

Well done on taking down all the decorations already, I’m putting it off here, will probably do it next week! DS keeps asking if Santa will bring him anymore presents. 🤣

DancingInTheRain

Thanks @savingholmes & @sashybo 😊

I appreciate we are in a reasonably good position in terms of what we owe and this certainly makes it easier to live on 1 wage even if my pride has made it harder for me to accept I'm not contributing financially at the moment!

I have come to terms with this now and, looking back, I was showing signs of being burnt out so definitely appreciate the opportunity to work on my wellbeing as well as family commitments for the foreseeable.

I have recently become a parent governor at the boys school so at least I get to flex my brain power a little as well as having something to fill the gap on my CV this year.

Bless your DS Sashy 🤣 my DS2 keeps asking if it's Christmas Eve each morning 🤣

Sold an item on V!nted today for a whopping £1.50! This did prompt me to list some more items so that's another small step towards decluttering & savings.

Also renewed DH's road tax today so that's the first big bill of 2022 paid ✅ 

DH has shocked me by FINALLY agreeing he will never watch/play the old CDs and DVDs that have been on our loft for 8 years and has been scanning away this afternoon to get the best prices from the various sites. Only likely to generate around £20 but again, gets a few more items decluttered. I have also repurposed the plastic storage boxes they were in to store some of the boys new Xmas gifts so they're looking a bit more organized now too 😊

sashybo

Well done on getting some stuff on Vinted, I was actually thinking about adding some more stuff tonight. It’s not huge amounts but it adds up and gets stuff out of the house at the same time.

Good to hear DH is getting rid of stuff too and making a bit of money and space. 

I need to tackle the spare room and see what rubbish my DH is hoarding up there “to sell”. We want to move DD into that room as it’s bigger than the one she’s currently in so it will need to be emptied!

DancingInTheRain

Good luck on tackling the spare room @sashybo
What is now DH's office was our spare room, sarcastically referred to as "the room of doom" as there was so much cr*p in there. Sadly most of it belonged to DH so instead of selling bits or throwing things away they were all boxed up and put on our loft.

One of our longer term plans is to convert the loft in to a bedroom but I've warned DH I won't even consider it until everything in there has been sorted through and either sold, recycled, skipped or put to good use - am guessing it'll be a few years until that happens 🙄

Today's small wins - £2.50 refund from my mobile phone provider & £11.31 from A$da due to using DH's Blue Light card when doing our grocery shop today, both swept into an empty  savings account we have which will hold any 'free' money we earn.

Picked up a few bits to make a buffet tomorrow as DH's brother, wife and children are going to join us tomorrow evening for New Year's Eve, some alcohol may have also made its way into the trolley 😉

DancingInTheRain

Happy New Year all.

We had a lovely celebration with the in laws last night, unbelievably all the children were awake at midnight (my 2 have never seen past 9pm since they were babies!)  The boys were reluctant to go to bed after seeing in the new year so DH took one for the team and agreed to sleep on the sofa the boys slept in our bed with mw. He definitely got the better deal as both boys are little wrigglers so I didn't get much sleep. The little ones loved it though as I've always been quite strict about them staying in their own beds so they enjoyed their sleepover with Mummy

I was up first so tidied round and was a bit too vigorous in mopping the floors as I managed to snap the mop in 2! I've used some Ama$on vouchers to order a new one, along with a gift wrap storage organiser as we seem to have lots of tags, rolls and gift bags left over with nowhere really to store them. This looks like it will fit easily and neatly in the wardrobe. Nice that we haven't had to use our own money to buy them too

Yesterday was a chore day before the family came round at 3 - we put the last of the Xmas decorations on to the loft, dropped off the Mus!c Magp!e and Z!ff!t parcels, paid the boys Xmas money into their ISAs, tidied up the living rooms, kitchen and utility & topped up DH's car with diesel. Today has been much more low key, the boys slept until 10 so we had a late breakfast then had a little walk out round our local harbour for some fresh air although it was incredibly blustery. We're all now in our pj's, I'm going to make a picky tea and try to encourage the little ones to have an early night. They're just relaxing on their tablets, may put a film on in a little while too.

So all in all a nice gentle start to 2022, hoping for a low key few days before DH and the children return to work and school tomorrow and looking forward to the start of the month bills going out on Tuesday so I can update the budget and make the first account round down of the year on the mortgage.

sashybo

Sounds like a nice night & day today. My two have never stayed up as late as midnight yet, DD would be raging as she loves her sleep!

I sympathise on trying to sleep in the same bed as wriggling children. 

My DD sometimes comes in with us for an hour or so at night and she is awful, she spreads out like a starfish and I end up with either her feet or her big cloth night nappy in my face. 😂 I’m always so glad when she wants to go back to her own bed!

Well done on having vouchers to buy the new mop & storage organiser. It’s always so much nicer when you don’t have to spend “real” money on things for the house. 👍🏻

Bubblesmum

Hello

Have caught up with your diary for last year. 

Wanted to acknowledge your bereavements as I am sure their loss is still very much part of your life.

wanted to acknowledge leaving your job - and to say bravo walking away from an organisation that didn’t match your moral values - I too have done that recently and it’s hard - but equally I know how it impacts your mental well-being. 

I admire how you are quietly chipping away with reducing what you owe - I was so glad of your catch up to work out what WWOTW meant As when I googled it and it told me something very different to do with the Wizard of Oz!

Wish you and your family many happy adventures in 2022

DancingInTheRain

Thanks @Bubblesmum & yes last year was a toughie, as it was for so many. There's quite a big hole in our family compared to this time last year but we've all pulled together and supported each other.

Slowly chipping away at the debt is enough for now, we're at peace with it & I appreciate the opportunity to not have to juggle work with a young family & get my MH on an even keep, I appreciate it is a luxury - living in a quiet northern town has made this a possibility, wouldn't have been able to make this choice if we had a large mortgage.

Had to laugh at the Wizard of Oz reference, I didn't even realise until I've just googled too - My DH says it's a very good description of me 😳🤣🤣

DancingInTheRain

Another low key day here today, we had a walk to our local L!DL (about 1 mile away) to stock up on fruit, veg, milk, bread. Saw the mop I ordered from Ama$on yesterday £7 cheaper, was a bit bulky to carry with the shopping so planning on going back in the car tomorrow to buy as the Ama$on 1 is currently out of stock so will be able to cancel the order. Hopefully that will be a MSE win 👍

Mild but blustery here today & despite rain threatening all day it's stayed dry so not only have we not needed the heating on we pegged out some washing! It didn't get completely dry but meant less use of the tumble dryer.

Just had an offer made on a V!nted item for £3 which I've accepted so, all in all not a bad day on the MSE front.

After a few late nights we managed to get both boys asleep by 7pm tonight so a great start on getting them back in their usual routine 👏👏 so a nice chilled child free evening for DH & I ☺️

savingholmes

Sounds like a great start to the year. Sympathise on little wrigglers. Hope it doesn't happen to often for you